This document describes results from the OHI 2016 global assessment.
Scores are broken down as follows:
The following datasets and figures include the complete data for the OHI 2016 assessment.
Data files to generate content for the Ocean Health Index website.
Output files:
This carpet plot figure (download as high resolution png) provides a full overview of the scores from the 2016 assessment. Each row represents a region, the main groupings represent goals, and within each goal there are 5 years of data. Black regions indicate no data.
Don’t try too hard to interpret the results for specific countries/goals/years!!
This plot is good for providing a quick overview of things like:
Another resource that can be useful for examining scores is this interactive plot. This can be used to (some example screen shots):
explore the distribution of scores
compare different goal scores
observe change over time
This section describes global patterns in index and goal scores. If you are more interested in what is happening at the region scale, skip to the next section.
(NOTE: Livelihood and economy goals are not included here)
Overall, there weren’t dramatic changes across years.
The Index score for 2016 (eez area weighted average of region scores) was: 71. This value was essentially constant from 2012 to 2016.
I haven’t done a formal analysis, but it looks like over time:
| goal | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | 70.9 | 71.3 | 70.9 | 70.9 | 70.5 |
| Artisanal opportunities | 76.6 | 76.9 | 77.2 | 77.2 | 77.2 |
| Species condition (subgoal) | 91.1 | 91.1 | 91.1 | 91.2 | 91.2 |
| Biodiversity | 90.8 | 90.8 | 90.8 | 90.9 | 90.9 |
| Habitat (subgoal) | 90.4 | 90.5 | 90.5 | 90.5 | 90.6 |
| Coastal protection | 87.8 | 87.7 | 87.7 | 87.6 | 87.3 |
| Carbon storage | 79.2 | 79.2 | 79.2 | 79.2 | 79.3 |
| Clean water | 74.2 | 73.7 | 73.6 | 73.5 | 73.5 |
| Fisheries (subgoal) | 53.2 | 53.5 | 53.5 | 52.9 | 53.4 |
| Food provisioning | 53.3 | 53.6 | 53.7 | 52.9 | 53.2 |
| Mariculture (subgoal) | 30.1 | 32.8 | 33.7 | 32.8 | 31.9 |
| Iconic species (subgoal) | 65.2 | 66.4 | 66.4 | 66.8 | 65.5 |
| Sense of place | 60.1 | 61.5 | 61.7 | 62.3 | 61.6 |
| Lasting special places (subgoal) | 56.1 | 57.7 | 57.8 | 58.5 | 58.4 |
| Natural products | 59.0 | 58.0 | 56.5 | 53.2 | 48.0 |
| Tourism & recreation | 49.9 | 48.7 | 45.3 | 48.1 | 49.2 |
This section explores goal and index scores at the region level. I mostly focus on the 2016 scores.
This interactive table describes the index and goal scores for the regions in 2016 (and here’s a link to a color coded table, and a csv file can also be downloaded).
The median index score was 68. The highest score was 91 for Howland Island and Baker Island, and the lowest score was 44 for Sierra Leone.
The following histogram describes the distribution of overall index scores:
The regions with index scores of 80 or greater are:
| country | Index |
|---|---|
| Howland Island and Baker Island | 91 |
| Jarvis Island | 89 |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 88 |
| Christmas Island | 85 |
| Seychelles | 85 |
| Palmyra Atoll | 85 |
| Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) | 85 |
| Macquarie Island | 84 |
| Northern Saint-Martin | 84 |
| Cocos Islands | 83 |
| Glorioso Islands | 83 |
| Germany | 83 |
| New Caledonia | 82 |
| Prince Edward Islands | 82 |
| Crozet Islands | 82 |
| Kerguelen Islands | 82 |
| Heard and McDonald Islands | 82 |
| Norfolk Island | 81 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 81 |
| American Samoa | 81 |
| Aruba | 81 |
| Australia | 80 |
The regions with index scores of 50 or less are:
| country | Index |
|---|---|
| Eritrea | 50 |
| Senegal | 50 |
| Lebanon | 50 |
| Algeria | 50 |
| Republique du Congo | 49 |
| Guinea Bissau | 49 |
| Liberia | 48 |
| Nicaragua | 47 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 47 |
| Guinea | 45 |
| Ivory Coast | 45 |
| Libya | 44 |
| Sierra Leone | 44 |
A color-coded table of 5 year trends is available here (and a csv file).
These values are calculated using a linear model of scores for each region/goal over the past 5 years. Positive values indicate potentially increasing scores during the past 5 years and negative values indicate potentially decreasing scores.
NOTE: Currently, these data include the livelihoods and economies goal but this trends should probably be calculated without this goal.
The global average suggests a slight (but, probably negligible) decrease in index scores during the past five years (-0.11), but there was a good deal of variation among regions. The following histogram describes the distribution of trends in index scores:
The 10 regions with the largest increases in index scores are:
| country | trend |
|---|---|
| Prince Edward Islands | 5.26 |
| Glorioso Islands | 3.23 |
| Tokelau | 2.71 |
| Mozambique | 2.46 |
| Samoa | 2.32 |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 2.22 |
| Solomon Islands | 2.05 |
| Tuvalu | 2.04 |
| Wallis and Futuna | 1.99 |
| Tonga | 1.82 |
The 10 regions with the largest decreases in index scores are:
| country | trend | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Sint Maarten | -2.37 |
| 212 | Saba | -2.42 |
| 213 | Ukraine | -2.46 |
| 214 | Sint Eustatius | -2.48 |
| 215 | Saudi Arabia | -2.56 |
| 216 | Norway | -2.56 |
| 217 | Finland | -2.64 |
| 218 | Equatorial Guinea | -2.98 |
| 219 | Estonia | -3.06 |
| 220 | Eritrea | -4.36 |
Here is a summary of the mean and standard deviation of the trends for different goals:
| goal | mean trend | sd trend |
|---|---|---|
| Index | -0.0924091 | 1.1826416 |
| Artisanal opportunities | 0.1703636 | 0.4172632 |
| Species condition (subgoal) | 0.0108182 | 0.0832187 |
| Biodiversity | -0.0203182 | 0.3694663 |
| Habitat (subgoal) | -0.0510138 | 0.7398197 |
| Coastal protection | -0.3630588 | 2.3081069 |
| Carbon storage | -0.0187838 | 0.0884785 |
| Clean water | -0.1435000 | 1.1309845 |
| Economies | 1.0139216 | 2.3537731 |
| Livelihoods & economies | 0.6586765 | 2.4298048 |
| Livelihoods | -0.0445098 | 1.5420581 |
| Fisheries (subgoal) | 0.5097727 | 2.1771129 |
| Food provisioning | 0.4900909 | 2.1767134 |
| Mariculture (subgoal) | 0.0564000 | 1.9816608 |
| Iconic species (subgoal) | 0.1445960 | 0.4535518 |
| Sense of place | 0.5692273 | 2.9193522 |
| Lasting special places (subgoal) | 0.7630000 | 3.9437809 |
| Natural products | -3.7691406 | 9.7389830 |
| Tourism & recreation | -0.3442647 | 3.7713096 |
These scores require a closer look, but possible patterns include:
The following is a comparison of the global status scores generated for 2015 by this year’s assessment vs. last year’s assessment.
If the models and source data remains the same, these scores should be exactly the same. Differences indicate changes in methods or source data (described in this downloadable document).
These changes do not reflect changes in actual system health!
The following goals had the largest changes:
The rest of the goals/subgoals changed by less than 3 points (on average, although regions might be highly variable).
| goal | assess2015 | assess2016 | change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artisanal opportunities | 62.92 | 73.53 | 10.61 |
| Species condition (subgoal) | 85.18 | 92.78 | 7.60 |
| Biodiversity | 86.52 | 90.35 | 3.83 |
| Habitat (subgoal) | 87.90 | 87.91 | 0.01 |
| Coastal protection | 85.64 | 85.53 | -0.11 |
| Carbon storage | 78.42 | 78.42 | 0.00 |
| Clean water | 73.47 | 73.47 | 0.00 |
| Economies | 87.65 | 87.65 | 0.00 |
| Livelihoods & economies | 82.46 | 82.46 | 0.00 |
| Livelihoods | 77.28 | 77.28 | 0.00 |
| Fisheries (subgoal) | 54.91 | 50.48 | -4.43 |
| Food provisioning | 54.25 | 50.50 | -3.75 |
| Mariculture (subgoal) | 25.44 | 31.53 | 6.09 |
| Iconic species (subgoal) | 59.27 | 62.11 | 2.84 |
| Sense of place | 58.66 | 58.93 | 0.27 |
| Lasting special places (subgoal) | 58.54 | 56.41 | -2.13 |
| Natural products | 48.71 | 50.91 | 2.20 |
| Tourism & recreation | 48.29 | 46.98 | -1.31 |
This color-coded table compares the 2015 index scores generated for each region/goal between this year’s and last year’s assessment.
Because these are index scores, changes reflect updates to pressure and resilience scores as well as status.
The following interactive plot provides an overview of how the 2015 scores changed between the 2015 and 2016 assessment for all goals and dimensions.
Some general pattern in these data:
This section takes a closer look at each goal/subgoal. I do not include goals that are comprised of multiple subgoals, although the subgoals are described.
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Cayman Islands | 100 |
| United Arab Emirates | 100 |
| Qatar | 100 |
| Bermuda | 100 |
| United States | 100 |
| Kuwait | 100 |
| Norway | 100 |
| Ireland | 100 |
| Saudi Arabia | 100 |
| Brunei | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Ivory Coast | 46 |
| 212 | Solomon Islands | 45 |
| 213 | Cameroon | 45 |
| 214 | Mozambique | 44 |
| 215 | Comoro Islands | 44 |
| 216 | Madagascar | 44 |
| 217 | Benin | 44 |
| 218 | Togo | 43 |
| 219 | Guinea | 43 |
| 220 | Liberia | 42 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Northern Saint-Martin | 98 |
| Aruba | 98 |
| Curacao | 98 |
| Cayman Islands | 98 |
| Ascension | 98 |
| Bahamas | 98 |
| Saba | 98 |
| Montserrat | 98 |
| Bonaire | 98 |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | 98 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Vietnam | 82 |
| 212 | Singapore | 82 |
| 213 | Eritrea | 82 |
| 214 | Cambodia | 81 |
| 215 | Oecussi Ambeno | 81 |
| 216 | East Timor | 81 |
| 217 | Libya | 81 |
| 218 | Myanmar | 80 |
| 219 | Sudan | 80 |
| 220 | Iraq | 78 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Macquarie Island | 100 |
| Kerguelen Islands | 100 |
| Heard and McDonald Islands | 100 |
| Norfolk Island | 100 |
| Tuvalu | 100 |
| Pitcairn | 100 |
| Wallis and Futuna | 100 |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | 100 |
| Suriname | 100 |
| Russia | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 208 | Colombia | 66 |
| 209 | Nigeria | 66 |
| 210 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 64 |
| 211 | Belize | 62 |
| 212 | Jan Mayen | 61 |
| 213 | Senegal | 61 |
| 214 | Poland | 60 |
| 215 | Dominica | 60 |
| 216 | Sierra Leone | 59 |
| 217 | Iceland | 52 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Howland Island and Baker Island | 100 |
| Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) | 100 |
| Aruba | 100 |
| Curacao | 100 |
| Tuvalu | 100 |
| Pitcairn | 100 |
| French Polynesia | 100 |
| Wallis and Futuna | 100 |
| Netherlands | 100 |
| British Indian Ocean Territory | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 161 | Ivory Coast | 33 |
| 162 | Guinea | 31 |
| 163 | Sierra Leone | 31 |
| 164 | Senegal | 30 |
| 165 | Guinea Bissau | 30 |
| 166 | Nicaragua | 30 |
| 167 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 30 |
| 168 | Lithuania | 29 |
| 169 | Dominica | 27 |
| 170 | Belize | 24 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Seychelles | 100 |
| Northern Saint-Martin | 100 |
| Germany | 100 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 100 |
| Aruba | 100 |
| Netherlands | 100 |
| Bahamas | 100 |
| Suriname | 100 |
| South Africa | 100 |
| Russia | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 139 | Senegal | 34 |
| 140 | Liberia | 34 |
| 141 | Guinea | 33 |
| 142 | Ivory Coast | 33 |
| 143 | Sierra Leone | 33 |
| 144 | Guinea Bissau | 31 |
| 145 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 30 |
| 146 | Barbados | 27 |
| 147 | Dominica | 27 |
| 148 | Nicaragua | 10 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Heard and McDonald Islands | 100 |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 99 |
| Kerguelen Islands | 99 |
| Falkland Islands | 99 |
| Bouvet Island | 99 |
| Jarvis Island | 98 |
| Macquarie Island | 98 |
| Howland Island and Baker Island | 97 |
| Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) | 97 |
| Crozet Islands | 97 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Israel | 33 |
| 212 | Guatemala | 33 |
| 213 | Belgium | 32 |
| 214 | India | 29 |
| 215 | Benin | 29 |
| 216 | Lebanon | 29 |
| 217 | Slovenia | 28 |
| 218 | Togo | 28 |
| 219 | Monaco | 24 |
| 220 | Gibraltar | 20 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Tuvalu | 96 |
| Nauru | 96 |
| Palau | 95 |
| Mayotte | 91 |
| Oecussi Ambeno | 91 |
| Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) | 90 |
| Finland | 90 |
| Maldives | 89 |
| Seychelles | 88 |
| Solomon Islands | 88 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | El Salvador | 19 |
| 212 | Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island | 18 |
| 213 | Mauritania | 17 |
| 214 | Barbados | 17 |
| 215 | Western Sahara | 16 |
| 216 | Guinea | 16 |
| 217 | Wake Island | 12 |
| 218 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 9 |
| 219 | Jan Mayen | 6 |
| 220 | Bouvet Island | 3 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Russia | 100 |
| Ecuador | 100 |
| New Zealand | 100 |
| Norway | 100 |
| Chile | 100 |
| China | 100 |
| Faeroe Islands | 100 |
| Iceland | 99 |
| Belize | 94 |
| Canada | 72 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 116 | Kenya | 0 |
| 117 | Jamaica | 0 |
| 118 | Nigeria | 0 |
| 119 | El Salvador | 0 |
| 120 | Pakistan | 0 |
| 121 | Eritrea | 0 |
| 122 | Senegal | 0 |
| 123 | Lebanon | 0 |
| 124 | Algeria | 0 |
| 125 | Libya | 0 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Cayman Islands | 100 |
| United Arab Emirates | 100 |
| Qatar | 100 |
| Bermuda | 100 |
| United States | 100 |
| Kuwait | 100 |
| Norway | 100 |
| Ireland | 100 |
| Saudi Arabia | 100 |
| Brunei | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Ivory Coast | 46 |
| 212 | Solomon Islands | 45 |
| 213 | Cameroon | 45 |
| 214 | Mozambique | 44 |
| 215 | Comoro Islands | 44 |
| 216 | Madagascar | 44 |
| 217 | Benin | 44 |
| 218 | Togo | 43 |
| 219 | Guinea | 43 |
| 220 | Liberia | 42 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Howland Island and Baker Island | 100 |
| Jarvis Island | 100 |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 100 |
| Palmyra Atoll | 100 |
| Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) | 100 |
| Macquarie Island | 100 |
| Northern Saint-Martin | 100 |
| Glorioso Islands | 100 |
| Germany | 100 |
| Prince Edward Islands | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | Bouvet Island | 0 |
| 212 | Benin | 0 |
| 213 | Iraq | 0 |
| 214 | Syria | 0 |
| 215 | Sudan | 0 |
| 216 | Somalia | 0 |
| 217 | North Korea | 0 |
| 218 | Eritrea | 0 |
| 219 | Liberia | 0 |
| 220 | Libya | 0 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| New Caledonia | 100 |
| Suriname | 100 |
| Mozambique | 100 |
| India | 99 |
| Iran | 98 |
| French Polynesia | 97 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 97 |
| Germany | 96 |
| Italy | 96 |
| Latvia | 96 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 119 | Honduras | 0 |
| 120 | Brunei | 0 |
| 121 | Faeroe Islands | 0 |
| 122 | Cyprus | 0 |
| 123 | Sao Tome and Principe | 0 |
| 124 | Montenegro | 0 |
| 125 | Equatorial Guinea | 0 |
| 126 | Dominica | 0 |
| 127 | Algeria | 0 |
| 128 | Republique du Congo | 0 |
| country | score |
|---|---|
| Seychelles | 100 |
| Northern Saint-Martin | 100 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 100 |
| Aruba | 100 |
| Malta | 100 |
| Curacao | 100 |
| Vanuatu | 100 |
| Maldives | 100 |
| Bahamas | 100 |
| Saba | 100 |
| country | score | |
|---|---|---|
| 195 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2 |
| 196 | Yemen | 0 |
| 197 | Ukraine | 0 |
| 198 | Iraq | 0 |
| 199 | Turkey | 0 |
| 200 | Syria | 0 |
| 201 | Somalia | 0 |
| 202 | North Korea | 0 |
| 203 | Lebanon | 0 |
| 204 | Libya | 0 |
This table describes the years of data that were used for each goal for each assessment year.
| goals | eez_2012 | eez_2013 | eez_2014 | eez_2015 | eez_2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AO | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| SPP | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| BD | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| HAB | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| CP | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| CS | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| CW | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| ECO | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 |
| LE | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| LIV | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 | 20122000 |
| FIS | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| FP | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| MAR | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| ICO | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| SP | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| LSP | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| NP | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| TR | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |